Barker takes Golden Boot
Thursday, 30 June, 2011
Defeat to Ireland sees fifth place tenth, but Golden Boot for Barker.
Michael Barker has finished as the top scorer at the 2011 Cerebral Palsy World Cup in the Netherlands despite England having to settle for an overall finish of tenth.The Merseyside youngster smashed home 11 goals during the tournament with hat-tricks against South Korea, Japan and Australia.
But England’s tournament finished in disappointing fashion with the Republic of Ireland chalking up a comfortable 5-0 win over Lyndon Lynch’s men last night.
The FA’s Head of Disability Football, Jeff Davis, commented: “It’s been a very hit and miss tournament for us in all honesty. We hit double figures twice and gave finalists, Russia, a really good game on the opening weekend but we struggled against teams on a similar level to us so that’s something we have to work on between now and the Paralympics.
“Scotland have had an excellent tournament and shown great team spirit in finishing top eight so those players will be available to Team GB and looking to be involved at London 2012.
“We’ve got plenty of Home Nation talent to look at over the coming months.”
Davis was impressed with Barker’s contribution with the 24-year-old putting himself in contention for selection at London 2012: “He’s had a fantastic tournament and has shown some real quality in front of goal.
“He’s got big competition experience having gone to Beijing in 2008 and is probably one of the best Cerebral Palsy players in the world right now. I’m sure the likes of Iran, Russia and Ukraine would love to have him in their team so Michael’s been a big positive for us.”
The tournament concludes this evening with Iran taking Russia in the final.
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